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I went to find a book at my local big-chain bookstore. After looking for it for awhile, I finally asked one of the wandering sales clerks for assistance. It went something like this:
“Hi. Can you tell me where to find Ricky Martin’s biography?”
“Let me check.” Some quick computer browsing. “Nope. Sorry. Not in store, and I dont think we can order it either.”
“Oh, okay. Well, can you point me toward books on coming out, please?”
“Oh. Um. Well, I’m not sure…I mean, I dont know where to look.”
My gaydar pings as a young butchy steps up.
“We have a gender studies section. Perhaps it’s there? If not, I’m not sure where to look.”
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll look.”
Needless to say, no luck. Self help? Nope. Sexual Interests? Nada. Illness and Recovery? Zip.
Not a single book on coming out. The only lesbian book on the shelf was the Lesbian Kama Sutra. Gender studies pertained only to women in society.
Not a single book.
I’m really peeved. Really. Like, letter writing, tell off the corporations, make a big stink kind of peeved.
They say GLBT books dont sell, so they dont carry them. But to not even carry coming out books? To say to someone, “sorry, guess you’ll have to order it” is to say, yes, you must come out just to ask for a book, yes, you must have an address to ship a book on coming out to, yes, we find you so inferior that we dont even carry books that might be of use or interest to you.
What the hell is going on?
Got the same problem in sa..only the biggest cities have queer stuff in bookshops + then mainly male stuff. Thank goodness for the internet..
I have a feeling that the response I get when I raise a hoopla is that the internet is available to everyone…which, to some degree, is true. At least it provides an outlet and an outreach, a way to find a community.
But what pisses me off is the relegation of the Queer community, and those investigating it, to a kind of second class–almost a “you people just dont count” kind of thing. And what about the people who cant have things delivered to them? Or who share a computer so cant search for the books/community/support they need? Although I have not been, nor am I terribly educated about it, I believe SA has a long history of subjugation of peoples in general, and this is yet another aspect in the fight for equality there. Why the hell is it happening in England, who are supposedly a leader in equality??
Sorry. High Horse Vic, on the ride.
)
Merry Xmas. And here’s to a New Year that brings happiness, health, and the resolution of old baggage.
way worse things happen here than being under represented in bookshops, but yes i get your point and i’m on your side. at the end of the day i think the world’s just run by money :/